Grotesque Tactics 2: Dungeons and Donuts Review (PC)

A Kyo Akiara review
Hey everyone, here’s my first game review for Calm Down Tom, the game I’ll be reviewing today is Grotesque Tactics 2: Dungeons and Donuts

Grotesque Tactics 2 is a turn based RPG developed by Silent Dreams and published by Meridian 4. The game takes place in the underworld, where the Killing Fog has killed and trapped much of humanity and the elves, and the main character (Drake), sets out on a parodical journey to form his own guild and reclaim the surface from the fog. Along your long journey there are many game parodies ranging from Pokemon to Chrono Trigger and various other similar RPG’s pop up. The game is rather amusing and can be quite outright funny at times.

The game mechanics are of a turn based setup, similar to games like Fire Emblem, but this game has a simpler setup. You use the mouse to choose the square you’d like to move to and then you choose the enemy to attack. There are also various skills you can use during battle. As you level up you receive skill points to put into a talent tree for your character and party members. Battles are fairly straight forward: kill the various enemies, and there will be a long boss battle at the end with an objective to complete. There are various quests and items to aquire for your characters, party members can be quipped while mercenaries can’t and are only for battles. There are a number of various competing guilds and party members you meet along your journey, The Mercenaries Guild being one of the first you meet. The game frequently parodies other games in the form of different quests; a quest to catch a rare pokedude being one of the many better examples.

The games storyline is rather amusing and can be quite funny at times. The conversations you have with the various people are a nice change of pace from other games of the genre. The humour mostly revolves around making fun of other games and it makes fun of the RPG genre and its associated tropes as a whole as well. For example, it has a ton of jokes about the hero’s amnesia early in the game. Overall I found the story and the humour to be my favourite parts of the game.

The games look is in the form of many classic PC RPG’s featuring an isometric camera angle but with 3D graphics. While not the best graphics in the world, they do their job well. I did a bit of testing with the ENB graphics mod as well and this game is compatible with it. The Following Screenshot is with ENB installed.

The audio is fairly well done and while not being the best out there similarly with graphics, it fits well with the game. The skill and sword sound effects are fairly basic – as is the music – while the voice acting for certain characters can be a little annoying at times. It grows on you after a while however.

While the game may not be for everyone, its still quite amusing and enjoyable to play. Being a fan of classic PC RPG’s and humour in games, it was a fun game to play, and I’d recommend giving the game a try to anyone who enjoys a humorous adventure in the style of the classics or anyone that enjoys dungeon crawlers. I will say however that I actually wasn’t expecting much from the game, and the story and referential humour are the best part about it. The rest of the game is a bit lightweight, so if you don’t find it funny you might not enjoy it as much as me.

You can find the Game on Steam for 19.99.
Thank you for reading and I hope this article has shown some insight on the game.

1 Comment

Kyo Akiara, you’re a bad reviewer. Look at this review for example, a 7 out of 10, when 7 reviews on Metacritics give an average 4.8. Actual players on Gamespot give it a 5.8. Did you actually play this game?